Maintenance comments on a Persian historical wooden building

Abstract

The use of wood as a building material in Iran has a long history which dates back to the first millennium. At that time wood was used to make the roofs, beams and columns of some buildings. The extensive use of wood in the construction of large wooden buildings came into practice in the seventeenth century A.D. In that era, huge wooden structures were introduced to the world, some of which are still in existence. A typical example of such buildings is the wooden structure of the Ali Qapu building in Isfahan, Central Iran. The main part of the building, which supports the wooden structure, is made of masonry materials and it was repaired and maintained in the 1960s, but the maintenance of the wooden part remained incomplete. In 1987, a thorough study of the structural behaviour of the wooden structure was completed. Instructions were proposed for repairing the structure according to this investigation. This paper demonstrates the maintenance procedure of the whole building and, in particular, the study of the wooden structure, and it presents instructions for maintenance of the wooden structure.